Secular temptations lure Orthodox youth

Friday

Aug 17, 2007 at 2:00 AM

The Orthodox Jewish community was jolted into action when some of its elders and rabbis walked into a party off Broadway recently where young Orthodox men and women were drinking booze, doing drugs and mingling romantically. The late-night gathering July 28 and 29 highlights a 10-year trend in which young Orthodox Jews, in their teens and early 20s, have begun dabbling in drugs, many in the Jewish community said. Leaving tighter supervision in Brooklyn and elsewhere, the youngsters find relative freedom – and trouble – while spending summer in the Catskills.

Adam Bosch

Monticello — The Orthodox Jewish community was jolted into action when some of its elders and rabbis walked into a party off Broadway recently where young Orthodox men and women were drinking booze, doing drugs and mingling romantically.

The late-night gathering July 28 and 29 highlights a 10-year trend in which young Orthodox Jews, in their teens and early 20s, have begun dabbling in drugs, many in the Jewish community said. Leaving tighter supervision in Brooklyn and elsewhere, the youngsters find relative freedom — and trouble — while spending summer in the Catskills.

That night's get-together in Monticello was also worrisome to elders of this religious community because their children were dressed casually, drinking to the point of intoxication, and kissing — all of which violate their religious laws.

About 200 Orthodox youngsters were hanging out in parking lots around Hi-Cue Billiards on East Broadway. The popular gathering spot for religious summer residents includes a darkened lounge that turns into a disco-style dance club by night. This week, the village shut down the business, citing fire code violations.

Joseph Halpert, a 52-year-old Orthodox man who stays in Kiamesha Lake during the summer, was the first adult to arrive around 12:45 a.m. A friend had telephoned to say a group of rabbis and parents were going to intervene and offer help. Halpert watched quietly as youngsters in the parking lots around the pool hall cut loose. He said the kids included Hasidim and modern Orthodox.

"Inside the pool hall and spilling out into the street were hundreds of frum (religious) boys and girls hanging out, cavorting, drinking, and snorting drugs," Halpert wrote in a letter that has become the hottest topic on Orthodox Jewish Web sites and blogs.

In a phone interview, Halpert said, "I could clearly see that there was drug paraphernalia changing hands. I've seen a lot of things in my community, but I've never seen anything like this."

Most say the drug use was limited to marijuana.

Boys and girls were making out; girls had taken off long, traditional skirts to reveal shorter ones and most had been drinking alcohol, eyewitnesses said.

"This sort of stuff is unheard of in our society until recently," said Judah Eckstein, founder of the Jewish news Web site Yeshiva World. "It's against Jewish law."

A shoving match broke out between some Jewish elders and bouncers when the elders tried to enter the pool hall's dance club. Monticello police came to the scene around 1:30 a.m., but most of the kids had already been taken away, Halpert said. Police did not charge or arrest anyone. Police Chief Doug Solomon said no evidence of drinking or drug use was found.

"It's possible that it's happening, but there was no evidence found to support that kind of activity," he said.

Jewish community leaders had an emergency meeting with Village of Monticello officials the following week because they were unsure as to how to handle the situation.

During the past two years, Hi-Cue Billiards had become a popular hangout spot for young, Jewish summer residents in Sullivan County. Shaul Vaknin, owner of the pool hall, is Israeli and speaks Hebrew.

"The kids started to feel comfortable here," he said.

It began with only boys hanging out and playing pool. Then came drinking in the backroom club and parking lots. Girls started showing up, too. The girls always came in long skirts, but that changed this year when girls began wearing "flashy clothes," as Vaknin put it.

"One thing led to another and the girls were drinking and dancing with the boys," Vaknin said, noting that he consistently turned away people trying to get into the club who were already intoxicated. Vaknin also said his bouncers found people smoking marijuana in the parking lots.

Action from the Orthodox community was swift after the sinful sights of July 28. Vaknin and Rabbi Mordechai Jungreis organized a Saturday-night concert featuring a popular Jewish band for the boys at Hi-Cue Billiards. Bowling alleys in Liberty and Kiamesha were rented to keep the girls busy.

The Orthodox community was mostly immune to the drug persuasions that captured America in the '60s and '70s.

But during the past 10 years, rabbis said, drugs have started to penetrate their society. Look no farther than August in Sullivan County for proof, where police arrested five Orthodox boys in South Fallsburg for possession of marijuana, and another in the Town of Thompson for possession of marijuana and nine Ecstasy pills.

"Drug use is still far, far less than the community at large," said Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, who runs a program for troubled youth called Project Yes. "But it's an issue and these things don't get better unless you address them."

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